In The News

Ken Gause says, “Regardless of what type of missile was fired, the fact remains that North Korean missile technology is improving. They seem to operate better, but there’s still a ways to go,” he said, adding that North Korea has not yet conducted a successful reentry test for a launched ICBM.

Samuel Bendett says that while the Russian military is likely leaning into new combat suits “given how many Russian soldiers were maimed and injured by munitions and shrapnel” in Ukraine, the widespread adoption of such high-tech (and high-cost) kits remains a substantial challenge.

Michael Kofman says that ammunition, for artillery and air defence, is “the most decisive factor.”

Dmitry Gorenburg says, "If you know that you're preparing to pull out, then it wouldn't make any sense to go through with the annexation."

Adam Monsalve, Rebekah Yang, and Addam Jordan write, “By now, it should be obvious that no sector of society is immune to cyberattacks. And yet, the legions of companies that are planning the electric air taxi revolution spend far more time showing off their cabin designs and flight ranges than bragging about their cybersecurity plans.”

Michael Kofman says, “As winter approaches, November and December in particular are difficult months to conduct offensives. Russian forces will seek to entrench for the winter, using the Dnieper (Dnipro River) as a natural defensive barrier in the south.”

Michael Kofman says, "All you have to do is look at a map, the problems are very obvious. Access to supplies by rail made a real difference in the Russian ability to sustain offensive operations."

Samuel Bendett says, “The Russian defense industry has not manufactured a large number of combat unmanned aerial vehicles to go after Ukrainian key positions.”

Samuel Bendett says, “Both sides are now reworking their drone software to make quadcopters more EW-resistant and sharing battlefield lessons with other operators, especially on avoiding the other sides’ defenses.”

Samuel Bendett, said that, Russia quickly turned to Iran for help with drones after realizing that Ukraine’s “integrated air defense is powerful enough to negate any significant Russian advantage in both manned and unmanned aircraft systems.”

Michael Kofman says, “Russia's strategy is to entrench, try to defend over the next several months, and focus on rebuilding its forces to see if they can restore offensive potential in the spring."

Samuel Bendett says, “The delivery and employment of these weapons has not affected Ukrainian resolve. But we are facing a very hard, cold Eastern European winter, and it remains to be seen how effective the Russian campaign might be.”

Samuel Bendett says, “Russians are basically portraying this as an organized retreat that was necessary to consolidate their resources, and the new commander Surovikin is hailing it as a logistical feat that will enable Russia to continue its operations into the winter.”

Michael Kofman says, “Liberating Kherson eliminated the prospect of a Russian campaign along Ukraine’s southern coast.”

Nilanthi Samaranayake, Vincent Bauer and Cornell Overfield wrote, “At CNA, we built a dataset of nine variables across 150 nations and created machine-learning models to quantify the strength of alignment between each country and the United States. The algorithm not only identified countries with the strongest and weakest alignment; it also predicted changes in that alignment.”

Joshua Tallis says, "Without a doubt the [US] Navy's embrace of the Arctic has improved, largely as a result of lessons learned from Truman's deployment.”